1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to communications systems and, more particularly, to conveying caller identifying information over a communications system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Caller Identification (CID), or Calling Number Delivery (CND) is a telephony service which provides a calling party's name and/or number to the called party. Many persons rely upon CID to determine the identity of a calling party prior to answering a received telephone call. The CID information is transmitted on the subscriber loop using frequency shift keyed (FSK) modem tones. These FSK modem tones are used to transmit the display message in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) character code form. The transmission of the display message takes place between the first and second ring. The information sent can include the date, time, and calling number. The name associated with the calling number is sometimes included as well. The CID data is not sent once the call is established. In consequence, the CID data is not resent during the call.
As such, CID can be of limited use in the context of conference calls. With respect to conference calls, once each participant is connected, it can be difficult for a listener to discern the identity of a speaking party. This may result from the listener's unfamiliarity with the speaker or that several of the conference call participants sound alike.